PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 115 



sometimes are not produced before August and Septem- 

 ber". As in the case of the hive-bee, the food of these 

 several individuals differs; for the grubs that will turn 

 to workers are fed with honey and pollen mixed, while 

 those that are destined to be males and females are sup- 

 plied with pure honey. 



The instinct of these larger females does not develop 

 itself all at once : for it is a remarkable fact, that when 

 they are first hatched in the autumn, not being in a con- 

 dition to become mothers, they are no object of jealousy 

 to the small queens, (as we shall soon see they are when 

 engaged in oviposition,) and are employed in the or- 

 dinary labours of the parent nest — that is, they collect 

 honey and pollen, and make wax ; but they do not con- 

 struct cells. The building instinct seems as it were in 

 suspense, and does not manifest itself till the spring; 

 when the maternal sentiment impels them at the same 

 time to lay eggs and to construct the cells in which they 

 are to be deposited. 



I have told you above, that amongst the wasps a small 

 kind oi female has been discovered: this is the case also 

 amongst the humble-bees, in whose societies they are 

 more readily detected : not indeed by any observable 

 difl^erence between them and the workers, but chiefly by 

 the diversity of their instincts : — from the other females 

 they are distinguished solely by their diminutive size. 

 Like those of the wasps and hive-bees, these minor 



* P. Huber, in Linn. Trans, vi. 264.— This author says however in 

 another place {iUd. 285), that the male eggs are laid in the spring, 

 at the same time with those that are to produce workers. Perhaps 

 by the former he means the male offspring of the small females, and 

 by the latter those of the large ? 



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